Victim Unit
by TextBookDreams
Summary: HD slight HOC. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw the peaceful houses suddenly enter into a fierce rivalry, dueling in the halls and causing mayhem. This leaves the other two houses at a loss. And Draco is acting VERY strangely this year...
1. The War Starts

Victim Unit

At the start of 6th year, the school descends into chaos as the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws enter an all out war with each other. But with the new-found house rivalry out-doing the old Gryffindor/Slytherin one, where does that leave the heavily confused aforementioned houses?

And why is Malfoy acting so strangely?

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Hope you enjoy the story :) Reviews are welcome… even flames… because I'm cold right now… and they'd warm me up XD

AU - Voldemort was defeated in year 5 in the ministry of Magic. Subsequently Sirius is still alive and just nursing a few wounds.

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As Harry stepped into the Great Hall, he took in a deep breath. This year, he decided, was going to be different. This year was going to be normal. Well, as normal as you could in a magical school. But with Voldemort dead and gone, there definitely weren't going to be any near-death experiences this year. No fighting, no plots against him, just a nice, normal school term.

"You ok Harry?" Harry jolted slightly, looking over to his best friend, who was surveying him with concern. Ron had finally stopped growing, and was now filling out more. He looked less like a stick insect on steroids now, Harry mused. "You're spacing out." Harry shook his head.

"I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Well look out. Here comes trouble." Ron muttered as a small group of people approached them, lead by Draco Malfoy. The Slytherin was only a head shorter than Ron, and half a head shorter than Harry, but he still seemed to tower over them with his pure arrogance. His blonde hair had become almost platinum coloured, and his silver eyes sparkled with something that Harry hadn't seen in them before.

"What do you want Malfoy? I'm surprised they let you back, now that your father's been sent to Azkaban, a convicted Death Eater." Draco simply raised a brow.

"Frankly Potter, I couldn't care less." He stated, in a bored voice. "I don't care about what happened last year. The fact remains that you and I have unsettled differences. And I want them settled _now._ Before the new year starts." By now, Slytherins and Gryffindors were gathering around, eager for action. Before Harry could even reach for his wand, a beam of red light shot over both of their heads. Draco jumped a mile, whirring around to try and see who had caused it. The crowd of Gryffindors and Slytherins parted so that their princes could see what was happening.

A few yards away, another duel was taking place amid a sea of blue and yellow. Curious, both Harry and Draco moved through the crowd towards the centre. What they saw amazed them. A 6th year student from Hufflepuff, and a 6th year from Ravenclaw were duelling ferociously.

"That's the last time you fuck with me, Turner!" the Hufflepuff yelled angrily. 'Turner' was sporting a lot of burn marks, and looked furious.

"I'm not going to let a stinking Hufflepuff beat me!" he declared. "Stupefy!" the spell hit the Hufflepuff square between the eyes, and he fell to the floor. A few Hufflepuffs from the crowd started shouting insults at Turner as two of them picked up their stupefied comrade.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Snape bellowed, parting the crowd with ease. "Potter! Malfoy! What are you…" he stopped, dumbfounded at what he saw. Harry and Draco were stood right next to each other, watching as Turner and a different Hufflepuff started to duel. "STOP! Stop right there!"

* * *

After a solid 25 minutes of trying to disperse the crowd and stop the fighting, Snape was finally joined by McGonagall, and together they managed to subdue all of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. The students from Gryffindor and Slytherin who had been watching Harry and Draco, were now standing around wondering what had just happened. Harry himself was dumbfounded at what he'd just saw. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were the _peaceful _houses. They always got on with each other no matter what. It was always Gryffindor and Slytherin students that could be seen fighting with each other. What was going on here?

After a while, all of the students departed, until it was only Harry, Ron, Draco and Pansy left. Harry and Draco were still standing side-by-side, unsure of what to do in light of what had just happened. Each turned, and looked at the other. Again, Harry saw that flicker of something in Draco's eyes that he didn't recognise.

"This isn't over." Draco snapped, walking away. Harry had a feeling that he'd only said that for good measure. Pansy hurried off after Draco, and Harry and Ron were left to wander up to the Gryffindor Tower.

* * *

Harry sat down in a chair by the fire, stretching.

"I wish I knew what that was all about back there." Ron muttered, sitting down in the chair opposite Harry. Harry shrugged.

"Maybe…" he was cut off by Hermione rushing up to them.

"_There _you are! Where have you _been_? Did you hear?"

"Um… hear what?" Ron asked, frowning.

"Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are at war! They _hate _each other! They're fighting in the corridors! Several people have already been sent to the Hospital Wing and the term hasn't even started yet!" Harry was thunderstruck.

"Why do they hate each other?" He asked.

"Apparently animosity has been building up between them for years. And something about… the Hufflepuffs not wanting to take any more insults off anyone? I don't know… no one seems to know the real reasons, and neither Hufflepuff nor Ravenclaw are telling. Anyone you ask from their houses, they just rant about how rubbish the other house is." Hermione took a deep breath. "This Slytherin in the library even said that they're just doing it for attention because Gryffindor and Slytherin have always been in the limelight while they get shoved to the corner." Ron looked horrified.

"WHAT?"

"I know, it's crazy! A Slytherin actually talking to me… she was quite nice actually… she seemed so confused about the whole situation that she didn't care I was a Gryffindor."

"No, that's not it. It's not even the first day of school and you've already been to the library?!" Harry snorted. Hermione glowered at them both.

"Well at least _I'm _trying to get somewhere in life! And if I hadn't been there then you wouldn't know anything about what's going on!" she huffed, walking away.

"Well… this year's certainly going to be interesting." Harry muttered tiredly. He didn't really care about Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. As long as they didn't try and kill him, it was fine with him. Though it was confusing him just _which side _was the good side, and which was the bad. Slytherin had always been the 'bad' side before, and neither Hufflepuff nor Ravenclaw seemed evil…

"What do you reckon Malfoy meant?" Ron asked suddenly. Harry frowned. "You know… he said he didn't care about his father being in Azkaban… why wouldn't he care?"

"Dunno… he can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. I just want a nice, normal school year." Ron snorted.

"When have our years ever been normal?" Harry shrugged, sighing. He was determined to have a normal year this year, no matter what happened.

"I'm off to bed. Classes start tomorrow and I don't want to be a wreck for the first day."

"Heh, you almost sounded like Hermione there." Harry feigned a horrified look before grinning and wandering off to bed.

* * *

Despite his best attempts, Harry didn't drift off to sleep until the early hours of the morning. He had been too intrigued by the strange new shine in Malfoy's eyes. They seemed more alive…. Almost _feral._ Wondering what it meant kept him up most of the night, and only by sheer exhaustion did Harry manage to fall asleep. He _did _manage to find out what the new shine was though. It was freedom. Draco Malfoy was finally free from his father's grasp. And perhaps for the first time ever, free to make his own choices. But what did that mean for everyone else?

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Hope you liked it! Again, reviews welcome :)


	2. A New Spark

Here's the next chapter!

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Harry felt very heavy the next morning. Like all of his muscles had stopped working properly. He staggered down to the Great Hall with Ron and Hermione – who was giving him disapproving looks. As they reached the Great Hall entrance, they saw a large mass of blue and yellow coming towards them.

"Uh oh…" Hermione muttered. Harry frowned, trying to make out individual faces in the mass of people. Suddenly, a blue figure came flying towards him at amazing speed, colliding with him and knocking them both to the floor. A second later Harry gasped in pain as a magical charge ran through his entire body, causing his world to go black.

* * *

"Nnn…" The world swam in and out of focus as Harry's eyes adjusted to the light of the room. He was lying on an all too familiar bed, and every bone in his body was aching. A figure loomed over him, causing Harry's reflexes to kick in. He tried to draw his wand, but it wasn't in its usual place in his robes.

"Ah, you're awake Mr. Potter. Good, now we can begin treatment. Mr. Turner has yet to awaken…." Harry frowned as more details started to register in his mind. He was in the hospital wing, and the figure was infact Madame Pomfrey, who was looking over at another boy – the boy who had collided with him in the hall.

"Turner…" Harry muttered. He knew that name.

"Yes. Have you met before? He's caused a lot of trouble already this term…. Already been in here twice. Such a nice boy last year… but now?" She sighed. "I don't know… all this new rivalry is so strange…" she shook her head, handing Harry a glass of pink liquid. "Here drink this. It'll help your body recover from the side effects of the hex."

"Hex?"

"Yes… I'm told that a Hufflepuff sent Mr. Turner hurtling into you with a rictusempra spell, just as another Hufflepuff cast a very nasty hex on him. As a result, the hex got transferred to you aswell, though Mr. Turner took most of the damage." Harry remembered the pain he had felt when the hex hit him. If that was only a small amount of the hex, he didn't want to imagine how much pain Turner must have felt.

He drank the pink liquid quickly, settling back into bed.

"What about my classes?"

"It's been taken care of. You only missed Charms and double Potions today, and Miss Granger has agreed to take notes for you to study. No one blames you for this." Harry nodded once, suddenly glad he'd been hit with a hex. Double potions on the first day back? What were the teachers thinking? "You're not the only one to be caught in the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw crossfire. A small Slytherin boy got hit with the jelly-legs hex this morning. And Mr Malfoy got hit with a very strange curse that made his hair fall out… he's refusing to leave until it grows back." Pomfrey rolled her eyes. "I gave him a potion to help it grow faster…. But he's being very childish about it… I should check on him now…" Harry nodded, holding back his laughter at imagining Malfoy bald.

After a few minutes, the boy in the bed next to Harry started stirring. He attempted to sit up, but fell back down in exhaustion.

"You should wait for Pomfrey to give you some potion before you start moving around." Harry said sitting up to look at Turner. Turner managed to move slightly so that Harry could see his face. His eyes widened. Turner had amazingly bright blue eyes and light brown, almost blonde hair. His eyes seemed very tired, and he had a burn mark (probably still visible from yesterday's duel) on his left cheek.

"Sorry about this." He said, his voice very weak. "I didn't mean to land on you." Harry laughed.

"It's not really something you could help. What's your name anyway?"

"Billie… but everyone calls me Spark." Harry frowned.

"Why?" Spark shrugged.

"No idea. My mum used to call me it because of my eyes… and everyone just sorta picked it up. I don't mind… I _hate _my real name." he sighed, turning his face away from Harry.

"What were you doing duelling more than one person at a time anyway?" Harry asked. Spark shrugged.

"Stupid Hufflepuffs gang up on you. They're too weak individually… I guess we're to blame though…. We said we could take on any number of them at a time…" Harry guessed that by 'we', Spark meant Ravenclaw. "I was just caught off guard by that stupid rictusempra."

"So was I." Harry said, grinning. Spark managed a small laugh, but was too weak to do much else.

"I REFUSE TO LEAVE LOOKING LIKE THIS!" Harry jolted. Malfoy's voice carried clear across the room from a bed near the far end, surrounded by curtains.

"I'm gunna go see what that was all about." He said to Spark, who nodded tiredly and closed his eyes. Harry got up, walking over to Malfoy's bed. He darted past the curtain and burst out laughing at what he saw. Draco was struggling with a pair of scissors, trying to snatch them away from Madame Pomfrey, who was looking very annoyed. Draco's hair had grown past his shoulder blades but parts looked like it had recently been hacked away.

Harry's sudden laughter startled Draco, who let go of the scissors long enough for Pomfrey to wrench them away and put them safely in her pocket.

"Honestly Mr. Malfoy! You don't want it short, you don't want it long… nothing pleases you!" she snapped in exasperation. Harry grinned.

"Nice look Malfoy. Very retro." Draco glared at him. "Turner's awake by the way ma'am." Harry said to the nurse. Pomfrey looked almost relieved to have a reason to leave Draco.

"Ah, finally. See to Mr. Malfoy will you Mr. Potter? I need to give Mr. Turner his medication. You're both free to go though." She pottered off before Harry even had a chance to answer. Draco just glared at him. Harry rolled his eyes.

"So why did you decide to hack lumps out of your hair?"

"None of your fucking business!" Draco snapped. Harry raised a brow.

"I was just asking…. No need to go all hostile." Draco just averted his eyes to glare at the flood instead.

"I don't want to look like _him._" He muttered. Harry frowned. He hadn't expected Draco to open up to him.

"Him? Your father?"

"Who else dumbass?" Draco sighed. "I don't want to look anything like that bastard." Harry blinked.

"I thought you worshipped your father."

"Well things change!" Draco snapped. Harry thought for a moment before disappearing behind the curtain. He returned moments later with a pair of scissors.

"Here… I'll cut it to the length it was before."

"I'm not letting you near me with scissors!" Draco said, eyes widened in shock. Harry sighed.

"Just shut it Malfoy… or do you want to look like Lucius?" when Harry advanced on Draco again, there was no objection.

* * *

"Well?" Harry asked. Draco was looking at his hair in a small handheld mirror.

"…it'll do." Draco sniffed, putting the mirror down.

"Right… I don't suppose I'll be getting a thank you…" Harry said, rolling his eyes. "I'm off… I've got work to catch up on." He disappeared behind the curtain again.

"Potter!" Harry stopped. "Thank you…." He smiled before continuing out of the Hospital Wing. It wasn't until later on that night that the absurdity of the whole event would strike Harry, and leave him restless and unable to sleep.

* * *

The moment Harry stepped through the portrait hole into the common room, he was wrapped in a very tight hug.

"Harry I was so worried about you!" Hermione said, her voice slightly muffled where her face was pressed into Harry's neck and hair. Over her shoulder, Harry could see Ron looking slightly put out at Hermione's display of affection. She pulled away and looked him up and down. "Are you okay? No side effects? I've heard that hex can have nasty ones…" Harry blinked.

"Side… effects?" he shook his head. "Nope… nothing so far… Spark took most of the damage anyway." Hermione frowned.

"Spark?"

"Turner…" Harry turned to Ron. "You know… the guy we saw duelling Hufflepuffs?" Ron half nodded, trying to remember.

"Billie Turner? A lot of people are talking about him…" Hermione said, moving to sit down in a chair by the fire. Harry followed and sat down next to Ron, opposite Hermione. "He's like… the Ravenclaw version of you or Malfoy. He represents Ravenclaw as a whole… and is usually the one fighting." Harry nodded, thinking. Spark did seem the type.

"What about Hufflepuff?" Ron asked. "Who's their rep?" Hermione frowned.

"There doesn't seem to be one. The Hufflepuffs just have smaller groups… usually 2 or 3 people… and they pick fights like that. I saw it quite a few times today. And the teachers are looking worn out already. Everywhere I go there seems to be duels taking place."

"Well…" Harry sighed, sitting back and stretching. "I'm on Ravenclaw's side. Spark seems alright." Hermione raised a brow.

"Oh yeah? 'Alright' huh?" Harry felt heat rising in his cheeks. He knew that tone in Hermione's voice… "I've heard Turner's quite the looker… has he made a lasting impression on our Harry?" she grinned. Harry glared at her.

"I regret telling you I'm bi… now you think I fancy every boy I meet! Which I don't! I just said he was alright!" Hermione laughed.

"I'm only joking… though judging by your reaction I think I may have hit a nerve…" not trusting himself to speaking again, Harry just continued to glare. "Anyway, the notes I copied up for you are over there." She pointed to a table near the fire, where a neatly stacked pile of 5 or so pieces of parchment lay. "You should take a look at them… we have potions again tomorrow." Harry's heart dropped.

"What?! Again?"

"How do you think I feel?" Ron muttered, sighing. "I've already had it twice! You get all the luck Harry… getting hit by hexes…" Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"I'd be more than willing to put a hex on you, Ron." She snapped. "I'm off… but Harry, if you wake up tomorrow and your eyes are sort of… hairy… don't worry, it's just the hex effects."

She left Harry looking wide eyed and scared.

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Review and I'll... erm... give you cookies... -shifty eyes-


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